Wish poems
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67. Epistle to John Goldie, in Kilmarnock
© Robert Burns
Ive seen me dazed upon a time,
I scarce could wink or see a styme;
Just ae half-mutchkin does me prime,
Ought less is little
Then back I rattle on the rhyme,
As glegs a whittle.
126. Lines written on a Bank-note
© Robert Burns
WAE worth thy power, thou cursed leaf!
Fell source o a my woe and grief!
For lack o thee Ive lost my lass!
For lack o thee I scrimp my glass!
185. The Humble Petition of Bruar Water
© Robert Burns
MY lord, I know your noble ear
Woe neer assails in vain;
Emboldend thus, I beg youll hear
Your humble slave complain,
If you Want What Visible Reality
© Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi
If you want what visible reality
can give, you're an employee.
243. Elegy on the Year 1788
© Robert Burns
FOR lords or kings I dinna mourn,
Een let them die-for that theyre born:
But oh! prodigious to reflec!
A Towmont, sirs, is gane to wreck!
113. A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton, Esq.
© Robert Burns
The Poet, some guid angel help him,
Or else, I fear, some ill ane skelp him!
He may do weel for a hes done yet,
But onlyhes no just begun yet.
The Ballad of the White Horse
© Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Of great limbs gone to chaos,
A great face turned to night-
Why bend above a shapeless shroud
Seeking in such archaic cloud
Sight of strong lords and light?
Triad
© Robinson Jeffers
Science, that makes wheels turn, cities grow,
Moribund people live on, playthings increase,
361. SongBehold the Hour, the Boat, arrive
© Robert Burns
BEHOLD the hour, the boat, arrive!
My dearest Nancy, O fareweel!
Severed frae thee, can I survive,
Frae thee whom I hae lovd sae weel?
303. SongThe Gowden Locks of Anna
© Robert Burns
YESTREEN I had a pint o wine,
A place where body saw na;
Yestreen lay on this breast o mine
The gowden locks of Anna.
351. Second Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry
© Robert Burns
Criticsappalld, I venture on the name;
Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame:
Bloody dissectors, worse than ten Monroes;
He hacks to teach, they mangle to expose:
Watching For Pa
© Henry Clay Work
Watching for Pa!
Watching for Pa!
Sitting by the window,
Watching for Pa!
The Splendid Shilling
© John Arthur Phillips
- - Sing, Heavenly Muse,
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime,
A Shilling, Breeches, and Chimera's Dire.
Book Fifth-Books
© William Wordsworth
There was a Boy: ye knew him well, ye cliffs
And islands of Winander!--many a time
At evening, when the earliest stars began
To move along the edges of the hills,
Rising or setting, would he stand alone
Beneath the trees or by the glimmering lake,
105. Despondency: An Ode
© Robert Burns
OPPRESSD with grief, oppressd with care,
A burden more than I can bear,
I set me down and sigh;
O life! thou art a galling load,
The Progress of Taste, or the Fate of Delicacy
© William Shenstone
A POEM ON THE TEMPER AND STUDIES OF THE AUTHOR; AND HOW GREAT A MISFORTUNE IT IS FOR A MAN OF SMALL ESTATE TO HAVE MUCH TASTE.
Part first.
Runnamede, A Tragedy. Acts I.-II.
© John Logan
Yet lost to fame is virtue's orient reign;
The patriot lived, the hero died in vain,
Dark night descended o'er the human day,
And wiped the glory of the world away:
Whirled round the gulf, the acts of time were tost,
Then in the vast abyss for ever lost.
112. A Dream
© Robert Burns
Note 1. The American colonies had recently been lost. [back]
Note 2. King Henry V.R. B. [back]
Note 3. Sir John Falstaff, vid. Shakespeare.R. B. [back]
Note 4. Alluding to the newspaper account of a certain Royal sailors amour.R. B. This was Prince William Henry, third son of George III, afterward King William IV. [back]
Fishin-Hunger
© Edgar Albert Guest
BLUE skies mighty temptin', an' the sunbeams coaxin', too,
An' my wo'k is gettin' harder ebery day;
Life Is A Dream - Act II
© Denis Florence MacCarthy
CLOTALDO. Reasons fail me not to show
That the experiment may not answer;
But there is no remedy now,
For a sign from the apartment
Tells me that he hath awoken
And even hitherward advances.
